US warns against using Lebanon as proxy for conflict
WASHINGTON: US secretary of state Rex Tillerson on Friday warned other countries and groups against using Lebanon as vehicle for a larger proxy fight in the Middle East, saying the US strongly backed Lebanon’s independence.
Tillerson said he recognised Saad al-Hariri as Lebanon’s prime minister and called him a “strong partner of the United States.” Hariri unexpectedly resigned his post at the weekend from the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh and accused Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah of sowing strife in the Arab world.
His resignation thrust Lebanon into the front line of a regional competition between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shia Iran that has also buffeted Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Bahrain. Tillerson’s backing of Hariri and the Lebanese government contrasted sharply with the approach taken by US ally Saudi Arabia which has lumped Lebanon with Hezbollah as parties hostile to it.
“There is no legitimate place or role in Lebanon for any foreign forces, militias or armed elements other than the legitimate security forces of the Lebanese state,” Tillerson said.
Hezbollah’s leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Friday Saudi Arabia had declared war on Lebanon and his Iran-backed group, accusing Riyadh of detaining Saad al-Hariri and forcing him to resign as Lebanon’s prime minister to destabilise the country. His comments mirror an accusation by Riyadh that Lebanon and Hezbollah had declared war on the kingdom.
France became the first Western country to indicate that Saudi Arabia was holding Hariri against his will, saying it wished for him to have “all his freedom of movement”. REUTERS